


Where the Light Enters

by Draco_sollicitus



Series: 25 Days of Star Wars [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: 25 Days of Damerey, But Part Two, Conservation Biologist Rey, F/M, Fluff, Injury Recovery, PT for Seniors, Past Amputation, Physical Therapist Poe, Rey Kenobi, home for the holidays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:15:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21642058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draco_sollicitus/pseuds/Draco_sollicitus
Summary: During the holidays, Rey Kenobi returns from six months on a remote island with her mentor. Trading in an island with adorable puffins for the cold, dreary snow of Ohio isn't an easy transition, but Rey loves her grandfather and is looking forward to some holiday cheer.Upon her arrival, Rey expects to find her grandfather, Obi Wan, at home, but there's an unfamiliar figure there as well: his terribly handsome, very charming physical therapist.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Rey
Series: 25 Days of Star Wars [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1560265
Comments: 29
Kudos: 156





	Where the Light Enters

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY 25 DAYS OF STAR WARS COUNTDOWN!!!!
> 
> Last year I did "25 days of Damerey" - to keep the series distinct between years, these will be categorized under "25 Days of Star Wars"
> 
> (I know it says December 2 but it did that weird thing where I posted it after 8 pm so it assumed it was the next day, anyway let's pretend it says Dec1)  
> 

Rey walked up the sidewalk to her grandfather’s house, exhausted to her bones. Her luggage rattled behind her as she dragged it up the icy path, and a hint of snow was on the air, making her wrinkle her nose.

“Foul,” she whispered to herself, her breath fogging.

It certainly wasn’t an island off the South American coast. 

She was home to Stewjon for the holidays, finally done with her six month excursion, and she couldn’t be happier to see her beloved grandfather. He was the only family she had, after all, who’d taken her in after finding her at the age of fifteen, literally starving and wasting away in foster care. Obi Wan had given her a home, and she loved him dearly for his kindness; he was getting on in years, and she was glad to have the next eight months to work from the university only ten miles away. It meant she could keep a closer eye on the old man.

Rey knocked five times on the door, skipping out a melody from Obi Wan’s favorite space western, rattling the holly wreath that had been hung with great care. There was silence for a few moments, and then an unfamiliar tenor could be heard through the wood.

“Just a minute!”

“Who on earth-” Rey squinted and then turned to look at the street.

There was a gorgeous black car she hadn’t seen before, a classic Cadillac that stuck out on her grandfather’s rather bleak Ohio block. 

The door swung open, and Rey saw her grandfather beaming, leaning heavily on a cane. “Princess!” 

“Papa.” She laughed and hugged him tight, pulling away to frown at his cane. “That’s new.”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Obi Wan waved his hand good-naturedly, but Rey squinted at him in suspicion. She could see some bruising on his forearm, and he rolled his sweater sleeve down when he caught her glaring. “How was the flight?”

“Long.” Rey sighed and pulled her scarf off as she walked in. Obi Wan closed the door behind her, and she couldn’t keep her eyes off his cane. “Seriously, how long have you been walking on that?”

“Not long enough to justify how fast he just walked,” came the unfamiliar tenor again. Rey turned and then found herself staring for a completely different reason.

There was a ludicrous handsome man standing in her grandfather’s front hallway. It was like Prince Eric walked off a Disney storyboard and changed into navy blue scrubs. 

“Um.” Rey blinked at the apparation and then looked back at Obi-Wan. “...Who is this?”

“I’m Poe.” The man walked forward with his hand extended, and Rey took it on instinct, shocked at how warm and firm his grip was. She shook her hand out when he released it, embarrassed at her cold and dry skin. “Poe Dameron. I’m working with Obi.”

“Obi?” Rey raised her eyebrows. Only Obi Wan’s closest friends called him that. “What are you two working on?” 

“Nothing much.” Obi Wan shuffled past them, limping heavily on his cane. “Working on a silly little injury is all.”

“A torn ACL is not a silly little injury,” Poe said firmly, following Obi Wan down the hallway. 

“I’m sorry, but when did you tear your ACL?” Rey demanded, stalking after them, not bothering to peel her boots off. In them, she was just about the height of Poe Dameron, not that it made him any less … stupidly attractive. Irritatingly attractive. Yeah. That was it.

“A few months ago.” Obi Wan waved his hand dismissively as he walked into the living room, where there were some weights and various exercise equipment laid out. “The surgery went well-”

“-Surgery?” Rey said, aware that her voice was reaching catastrophic heights. 

“Surgery,” Poe confirmed, frowning at Obi Wan. “Obi, you said your family knew about it.”

“I don’t need a lecture, young man,” Obi Wan said serenely, setting his cane aside and lowering himself into a chair, leg extended. “Oh, that’s the ticket. Anyway, Rey would have ended her trip early, and she’s been off saving the puffins.”

“Papa, I  _ would  _ have flown back,” Rey agreed reproachfully. “And I would have preferred to not be kept in the dark.”

“I’m sorry, darling girl.” Obi Wan sighed mightily. His giant Maine Coon, Artoo, jumped in his lap, and he groaned in surprise. “Artoo has been more than supportive these past few weeks though.”

Artoo purred in agreement.

“Papa.” Rey pinched the bridge of her nose. “As important as conservation is, your health is a bit more of a priority to me.”

“I appreciate it,” Obi Wan said magnanimously. “But - you promised me pictures. They’re marvelous creatures Poe, very fat. Rey called them … what was it, Porgs?”

“Mhm.” Rey sighed through her nose, well aware that she was in no position to scold her grandfather over his own health. Best to let the fight go for the moment; Obi was pretty much the only person in the world she didn’t feel the need to fight with ( _ including  _ her mentor, Luke Skywalker, who she’d just spent six months with on an island, no other company but the two hundred-odd puffins who inhabited it). “I have plenty of pictures, on my camera. It’s with my things.” She turned and walked back to the front hall.

“Why don’t you go help Rey with her things?” Obi Wan said as she walked away.

“Obi, you could have rescheduled today if you knew your granddaughter was coming to town. I would have been happy to-”

“I really do think she might need some help,” Obi Wan interrupted Poe’s warm, pleasant voice, and Rey snorted behind her hand.

Oh that old bat was matchmaking again.

He tried, very briefly, to set her up with Luke’s nephew a few years ago. She’d broken the git’s nose, and Obi Wan had firmly told Luke that Ben Solo wasn’t to come a thousand miles near his house again, or he’d whap him upside the head with a frying pan. Obi Wan was good like that.

Rey knelt down and turned her luggage on the side; she unzipped it and began to rifle through her things, trying not to throw her underwear on the floor, given that there was a guest in the house.

“Uh.” Poe stood next to her, rubbing the back of his neck with an endearingly sheepish grin. “Your grandpa-”

“Is a busybody,” Rey finished for him. She looked up with a smile. “Everything I own is in this trunk, and I only have one trunk. I’m more than capable of carrying it on my own, and  _ he knows that _ !” She added the last part a little loudly for Obi Wan’s benefit.

There was the faint scratch of a record, and Vera Lynn started to play softly from the living room.

“Oh, that’s his romantic soundtrack.” Rey rolled her eyes mightily and stood, holding her camera. “He thinks he’s being smooth, trying to orchestrate a courtship.” She heard a loud thump from the living room and smirked, knowing Obi Wan had heard that, too.

“Ah, I see.” Poe coughed, and she saw that he was blushing furiously.

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to marry me or anything. I don’t think Obi Wan  _ actually  _ has a shotgun for that. But I think he  _ might  _ have a sword made out of lasers, somewhere.” Rey made a face and looked thoughtfully up the stairs. “I swear I found it when I was a kid, it was a prototype from NASA that I’m pretty sure he stole.”

“No kidding?” Poe laughed, looking oddly relaxed at the idea of her grandfather with a laser sword. “I’m sure he’d be more than handy with it; not many seniors tear their ACL rock climbing, but-”

“But Obi’s always had a mind of his own,” Rey said, laughing as well. “I found the camera!” She shouted at her grandfather.

“How lovely! I think Qui Gon is calling me, so I’ll be a few!” 

She heard the door to his study open and close, and Rey snorted. “Oh, he’s pulling out all the stops,” she said. “If you have to leave-”

“I’m here until two,” Poe said, shrugging. “Unless - unless you want me to leave?” He frowned, looking concerned, but Rey shook her head.

“No, that’s alright. Might as well show you some puffins.” 

Rey clicked the camera on and started to flip through the photo roll. Poe hummed and ooh’ed and aah’ed at all the right places, and Rey found herself happily answering his various questions, and even offering some information without prompting.

“You were really on an island with no WiFi for six months?” Poe whistled, soft and low. “Damn. I think I might lose my mind if I couldn’t Skype with my dad.”

“Funny, most people tell me about Netflix when I say that,” Rey laughed. Not that she talked to many people; the few friends she’d told about her trip - Finn, who was an anthropologist and understood long stretches of time away from technology, and Leia, Luke’s twin - hadn’t said many disparaging things, but other people from her Master’s program were less supportive. 

“Nah. When I was overseas, Skyping with my dad was the only thing that kept me calm and relatively normal.” Poe was quiet then, and Rey tilted her head at him.

“Overseas?”

“On deployment,” Poe answered, ducking his head and answering automatically. “I was, uh, a pilot for a couple years.”

“That’s amazing!” Rey said excitedly. “You and Obi must have loads to talk about. How did you become a…”  _ Was he a nurse?  _ She eyed his scrubs and cleared her throat.

“Physical therapist,” Poe filled in for her, smiling softly. “I finished up my studies last year. I, uh, needed something to do after I left the service.” He licked his bottom lip - which definitely did not catch Rey’s attention - before adding, “Honorable discharge.”

Rey nodded. She wouldn’t have assumed otherwise, but Poe lifted the leg of one of his scrubs. She looked down and saw metal instead of flesh. 

“I was in PT for a while after the …. Yeah. So,” Poe was beet red. “I loved my physical therapist. Cassian Andor. He kicked my ass, and he was also a wounded vet, so he encouraged me to start studying, keep helping people even when I was out of the service. And, uh, it’s been great. Really great.” 

“That is great,” Rey said warmly, smiling at him as he lowered his pant leg. He looked oddly relieved, and she wondered if people  _ didn’t  _ respond well to his story.

People were assholes, Rey thought, but something told her Poe Dameron was not.

“And now you’re here in Ohio, helping my grandfather, who is the most stubborn person alive,” Rey teased, and Poe nodded, smiling fondly. They were leaning against the wall in the front hall now, mirroring each other’s body language. Rey liked looking into Poe’s eyes, and she liked that she didn’t have to tilt her head back or down to do so; he was evenly matched for her in height, and he got along with Obi Wan, which was about a thousand points in the  _ yes  _ category.

Maybe this time, Obi’s matchmaking wouldn’t end in a broken nose.

“Is that your car outside?” Rey asked, tilting her head to the front door.

“Yep.” Poe beamed, his face lighting up, making him even more ridiculously handsome. “My mom’s old car if you can believe it.”

It was Rey’s turn to whistle. “A Fleetwood Sixty Special. It’s absolutely gorgeous.”

“Thanks.” Poe ducked his head again, his smile shy. “It’s tough keeping it in shape, but worth it. My mom … she loved that car.”

Rey looked at Poe for a long time, assessing and careful. She didn’t know much about him, true, but … she was starting to get a good idea of him. 

“Hey, Poe?”

“Hmm?” He looked up, still smiling, the corners of his warm, brown eyes crinkling pleasantly.

“...when do you finish for the day? As a physical therapist, I mean? Is it… a long day? Of therapy?”  _ Oh, you can tell I’ve been living on an island for six months with a batty old man for company.  _

“Uh.” Poe blinked. “My last appointment for the day should end around six, six thirty at the hospital.”

“Amidala Memorial?” That was only fifteen or so minutes away.

“Mhm.” 

“Do you think you could, um,” Rey blushed, not entirely sure how this would go over, “Maybe want to … get dinner?”

“I...yeah.” Poe stood up straight, blinking quickly. “I’d love that.”

“Me too!” They both jumped as Obi Wan came around the corner, without his cane. He howled with laughter and clapped his hands. “Oh, the  _ looks  _ on your faces!”

“Obi!” Poe looked around wildly. “Where’s your cane?”

“My what now?” Obi turned and walked down the hallway with only the hint of a limp. 

“Papa!” Rey laughed, exasperated. “I can _ not  _ believe you snuck up on us! This is just like high school!”

“You bet!”

“What’s just like high school?” Poe asked, turning around with a mischievous grin.

“Hush.” Rey stuck her tongue out at him. “You can get that story later. Maybe. If everything goes well.”

“Alright, Kenobi.” Poe shook his head and started to walk backwards down the hall, his white sneakers squeaking slightly on the hardwood. “You two are gonna keep me on my toes, huh?”

“You bet,” Rey agreed, warmth fluttering in her chest.

Poe chuckled and turned, snagging Obi’s cane from where it was leaning against the wall. “I look forward to it,” he called over his shoulder, heading into the kitchen.

“Me too,” Rey whispered to herself, putting her hands to her cheeks as they started to ache from smiling. “Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading xoxo
> 
> LET'S SEE IF I CAN KEEP PACE AGAIN THIS YEAR (Go ahead and check out my 25 Days of Damerey series if you need some winter holiday fluff)


End file.
